Daily Devotional – March 27

History

The dodo bird was a strange bird. These large, flightless birds lived on an island in the Indian Ocean. Sailors found this bird so easy to catch and eat that by 1662, it was extinct. No one seemed to notice. Decades later, scientists did not believe that the dodo ever existed. It was widely believed that legends of such a bird were pure myth. Just think about the evidence:

1. A strange creature
2. No one can find one in existence
3. Nothing but old accounts, fanciful drawings and vague descriptions

The dodo might still be considered a prehistoric animal or myth had it not been for a few dodo specimens found in the basements of museum collections. By the 19th century, scientists realized the dodo was a real bird that became extinct. There is a stuffed dodo bird on display in the Prague Museum of Natural History today.

In the same way, consider dragons:

1. A strange animal
2. No one can find one in existence
3. Nothing but old accounts, fanciful drawings and vague descriptions

But there is a significant difference between the dragon and dodo evidence. There are massive numbers of dragon accounts, drawings and descriptions from around the world. Many of these dragon descriptions fit a creature that we know by a different name – dinosaur. Dragons (dinosaurs) were considered real creatures for over 4000 years of human history. It was not until the 20th century that we began to teach that any firsthand human knowledge of dragons/dinosaurs was a myth. Dragons living after the Flood could have become extinct through environmental changes, man killing them off, or many other reasons.

Most dragon legends speak of dragons as viciously attacking and then being killed. In Scriptures (Revelation 12:3), Satan is portrayed as a vicious dragon. If dragons were a myth, then the description of Satan being a dragon would also be mythological. Satan wants people to deny his existence. This idea, that dragons are only a myth and not real, could be just another attack on God and His Word. Dragons were real creatures that went extinct - just like the dodo.

And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

~ Revelation 12:3

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.